The US has unveiled an ambitious plan that will force air passengers from Wuhan, China, to change flights or reroute entirely to ensure that they are screened for the killer coronavirus spreading through the city, infecting up to 10,000 people.
Dr Martin Cetron, director for the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine at the Centers for Disease Control, described the plan following a media briefing on Tuesday where officials confirmed the first US case – an unnamed man in his 30s who was hospitalized in Washington state after returning home from China.
The deadly new coronavirus, a SARS-like disease, has killed nine and sickened at least 475 people in China after it is thought to have spread into humans from a seafood market ‘which illegally traded wild animals’ in the city of Wuhan.
Cetron outlined the ‘funneling approach’ which will aim to make sure every traveler from Wuhan passes through one of five US airports equipped to screen them.
Given how quickly the virus has spread, Cetron said the CDC has instructed the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Department to redirect travelers and keep the US as secure as possible.
‘With increasing cases, we decided to move into this full-on, 100 percent coverage strategy, which means adding additional airports and … begin our funneling approach and redirect all the traffic to airports that have screening so that the benefit of the alert could be more completely covered,’ Cetron said.
The US has unveiled an ambitious plan that will force air passengers from Wuhan, China, to change flights or reroute entirely to ensure that they are screened for the killer coronavirus spreading through the city, infecting up to 10,000 people. A passenger is seen during a screening at an airport in Beijing on Wednesday
Dr Martin Cetron (pictured), director for the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine at the Centers for Disease Control, described the plan following a media briefing on Tuesday where officials confirmed the first US case – an unnamed man in his 30s who was hospitalized in Washington state after returning home from China
The virus is thought to have originated at a seafood market in the city of Wuhan, China, before spreading across the country, and then to Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea and the US
Screening checkpoints have already been set up at Los Angeles International Airport, New York’s John F Kennedy airport, and San Francisco International Airport.
Checkpoints will be introduced at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta later this week.
Cetron said that anyone who tries to get from Wuhan to the US without going through any of those five airports will be rerouted by US officials.
The official described funneling as ‘a very complex process that involves reissuing tickets and rerouting passengers from all over the globe through connecting indirect flights’.
CDC officials have also suggested the possibility of redirecting entire flights inbound from China through airports with screening checkpoints.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised the CDC and said he is ‘not at all’ concerned about the possibility of a pandemic
President Donald Trump addressed the deadly new virus during remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, early Wednesday morning.
He praised the CDC’s rapid response and said the situation is being handled ‘very well’.
‘The CDC has been terrific, very great professionals. We’re in very good shape and I think China is in very good shape also,’ Trump said.
The president added in an interview with CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ that he was ‘not at all’ concerned about the possibility of a pandemic.
‘It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control,’ he said.
‘We have it totally under control.
‘We do have a plan, and we think it’s going to be handled very well.’
The virus has managed to jump from human-to-human and spread across several Chinese provinces, before hitting Japan, Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea.
North Korea, which keeps public health data closely guarded as a state secret, has not reported any cases but has restricted the movement of tourists amid fears the disease could spread there.
Chinese authorities have warned that the virus is mutating and could spread further, especially as people travel to see relatives to celebrate Lunar New Year this week.
Authorities have warned against all travel to and from Wuhan – a city of 8.9million – and said they are at ‘the most critical stage’ of containment and control.
In other developments:
- The World Health Organisation (WHO) is poised to declare the outbreak a public health emergency in a meeting in Geneva this afternoon
- Travelers from the area of China at the center of the coronavirus outbreak will be separated from other passengers on arrival at London’s Heathrow airport
- China’s National Health Commission has urged travelers to not visit Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak
- Chinese officials have also warned there is a possibility the virus will mutate, warning it could mean a further spread of the infection
- Chinese province of Hubei is set to apply for emergency assistance from the central government for 40 million face masks and five million hazmat suits
- Women’s football qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympic Games will be moved from Wuhan to another location in the country
- A boxing qualifier scheduled next month in Wuhan for the Tokyo Olympic Games has also been rescheduled and moved
- Leading scientists have accused China of under-reporting cases, saying it has a ‘track record’ of doing so and warning the ‘true picture may be completely different’
- Thailand has announced a fourth case of the coronavirus, a 73-year-old woman who had traveled to Wuhan during the New Year
- Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has called on China to share ‘correct’ information about a new coronavirus
China’s National Health Commission has today urged travelers to not visit Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak. An electronic billboard shows a scheduled flight from Wuhan in the arrival hall of the Hong Kong International Airport
Travelers wear masks in the arrival hall of the Hong Kong International Airport amid fears the coronavirus outbreak will spread
A Thai nurse works next to a campaign poster alerting patients of the coronavirus at a hospital in Bangkok. Four cases have been confirmed in Thailand
Staff move bio-waste containers past the entrance of the Wuhan Medical Treatment Center, where some infected with a new virus are being treated
Scientists are desperately trying to contain the outbreak, which officials have confirmed has passed between humans. It can cause a fever and lead to pneumonia.
Cases have risen nine-fold in the space of a few days, with just 48 confirmed cases on January 17. At least 20 healthcare workers have since been infected, including one doctor investigating the outbreak. Australia and the Philippines are investigating suspected cases of the coronavirus.
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first American case yesterday.
The unidentified man, from north of Seattle, is currently hospitalized and in ‘good’ condition but is being closely monitored in isolation.
He traveled from Wuhan, but did not visit any of the markets at the epicenter of the outbreak, according to state health officials.
The man arrived at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport – but not directly from Wuhan – on January 15, the day before screening was in place, and before he developed symptoms.
But he reportedly recognized his own symptoms – which typically include cough, fever and runny nose – after seeing online coverage of the virus.
The patient reached out to doctors on January 16, was tested on the 17th and his diagnosis was confirmed Monday, health officials said.
The patient is a resident of Snahomish County in Washington State and is currently at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett.
On the heels of the identification of this first US patient, all flights from Wuhan into the US were being rerouted to the three airports set up last week for screening – LAX, San Francisco and JFK – as well as an additional two locations: Chicago O’Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Vaccine experts at Baylor University are working on modifying a vaccine they designed to prevent SARS to protect against the new, related coronavirus.
But the school’s Dean of Tropical Medicine, which is developing the shot, Dr Peter Hotez, told DailyMail.com that it’s likely years away from deployment.
Travelers from the area of China at the center of the coronavirus outbreak will be separated from other passengers on arrival at Heathrow Airport as UK health chiefs step up their response, it was announced today.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said Public Health England is putting in place new precautions in relation to travelers to the UK from the region.
‘There have been some announcements this morning about flights that come direct from the affected region to Heathrow with some additional measures there,’ he told Sky News.
‘At the moment Public Health England have moved this from ‘very low’ to ‘low’ but obviously we want to stay ahead of the issue so we are keeping a very close eye on it.
‘Initially this is to ensure that when flights come in directly into Heathrow there is a separate area for people to arrive in.’
Chinese officials have today urged travelers to stop visiting Wuhan, a city home to 11 million people. Residents have even been urged to avoid getting into crowds to try and stop the spread of the virus.
China’s National Health Commission vice-minister Li Bin said: ‘Basically, do not go to Wuhan. And those in Wuhan please do not leave the city.’
In the same public briefing, he also warned there is a possibility the virus – which has yet to be officially named – will mutate, warning it could mean a further spread of the disease.
Passengers leaving for Wuhan, waiting at the Leonardo Da Vinci airport in Fiumicino, Rome
Malaysia is one of many countries that have stepped up their passenger screening, with airport workers screening travelers for symptoms of the virus
Li said: ‘There has already been human-to-human transmission and infection of medical workers. Evidence has shown that the disease has been transmitted through the respiratory tract and there is the possibility of viral mutation.’
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is expected to declare the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in a meeting held in Geneva today.
If the UN body declares it an emergency, it will be just the sixth time in history that it has happened.
The only other outbreaks to have been granted such a status include the 2009 Swine flu epidemic, the resurgence of Polio in 2014, the worldwide spread of Zika in 2016 and the two most recent Ebola outbreaks in 2014 and last year.
Infectious disease scientists across Asia are concerned China could be covering up the true amount of cases of the coronavirus.
Piotr Chlebicki, at Mount Alvernia Hospital in Singapore, told South China Morning Post it was ‘hard to believe [the official number of] cases’.
He added: ‘China has a track record of under-reporting cases, so the true picture may be completely different.’
The newspaper reported experts are concerned about the number of bureaucratic steps – put in place after the 2003 SARS outbreak – before a case can be confirmed.
The virus has caused alarm because it is from the same family of viruses as SARS, which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen today urged China to release all information about the outbreak of a new virus and work with Taiwan on curbing its spread.
At China’s insistence, Taiwan is not a member of the World Health Organization and is not allowed to participate in any of its meetings. However, large numbers of Taiwanese travel to and live in China.
Tsai said: ‘I especially want to urge China, being a member of international society, that it should fulfill its responsibilities to make the situation of the outbreak transparent, and to share accurate information on the outbreak with Taiwan.’
One case of the coronavirus has been confirmed in Taiwan, which is home to 23 million people.
Sharing information is also important for the health of the Chinese population and Beijing ‘should not put political concerns above the protection of its own people,’ Tsai said.
China regards Taiwan as its own territory and says it is not entitled to representation in most international bodies.
Thai officials today confirmed a fourth case, a 73-year-old woman who developed a fever after returning from Wuhan.
She was being monitored in an isolated ward in a hospital in Nakhon Pathom, 37 miles (60km) west of Bangkok.
In a message to the country, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said: ‘We can control the situation.
Officials at Taiwan’s Center for Disease Control use thermal scanners to screen passengers arriving on a flight from China’s Wuhan province
South Korean cleaners prepare to disinfect the facilities at the customs, immigration and quarantine area at Incheon International Airport
‘There have not been cases of human-to-human transmission in Thailand because we detected the patients as soon as they arrived.’
Saying there are no reports of the infection spreading to others, he added: ‘We checked all of them: taxi drivers, people who wheeled the wheelchairs for the patients, doctors and nurses who worked around them.’
Two other Chinese patients in Thailand have recovered and been sent home, while a third will return once tests show he is clear of the virus. One of the four patients was a Thai national.
Thai officials have stepped up screening at airports to look for passengers with high body temperatures, coughs, headaches and trouble breathing.
The Chinese-ruled gambling hub of Macau today confirmed its first case of the coronavirus – A 52-year-old Wuhan businesswoman.
She took a high-speed train to the Chinese city of Zhuhai on January 19, then a shuttle bus to Macau. She had dinner with two friends, then went to the hotel and spent a long time in casinos.
She was in a stable condition in an isolation ward. Her two friends were also being monitored and were in isolation.
Officials quickly moved to tighten temperature screening measures in casinos and around the city. A total of 405 guest entrances and 47 staff entrances have been provided with portable screening devices and all casino staff have to wear surgical masks.
A child wears a facemask at Daxing international airport in Beijing as he heads home for the Lunar New Year
The outbreak is believed to have started late last month among people connected to a seafood market in Wuhan, where all six fatalities have happened
DOCTOR INVESTIGATING OUTBREAK ADMITS HE HAS CAUGHT THE VIRUS
A leading Chinese doctor investigating the killer coronavirus yesterday admitted he has caught the SARS-like infection.
Wang Guangfa, who heads the department of pulmonary medicine at Beijing’s Peking University First Hospital, was part of a team of experts that earlier this month visited Wuhan, where the virus first emerged.
‘I was diagnosed and my condition is fine,’ Dr Wang told Kong’s Cable TV. He said he is receiving treatment and will have an ‘injection’ soon.
Dr Guangfa is one of the national experts that previously said the pneumonia-causing virus, which has never been seen before, was under control.
Wang Guangfa has been infected with the new virus in China after being part of a team of doctors investigating it in Wuhan, where the virus emerged
All performers and staff at the events hosted across Macau will be screened.
Entry points into Macau will also have temperature checks and visitors will be asked to fill in a health declaration form.
The tourist-magnet casino industry in Macau, which returned to Chinese rule in 1999, accounts for more than 80 per cent of the revenue in the city of 600,000 people. Macau is a popular Lunar New Year destination for mainland Chinese.
Despite the outbreak, the Australian women’s soccer team is still preparing for a trip to Wuhan early next month for the Olympic qualifiers.
Australia has issued a travel warning for Wuhan, asking visitors to ‘exercise a high degree of caution’.
Head coach Ante Milicic said he had ‘full confidence’ in the advice given to them from authorities including national governing body Football Federation Australia and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
‘As a coach we will always put the wellbeing of our players and staff first,’ he said at a training camp in Sydney late on Tuesday.
‘I know we have got experts involved and they are monitoring the situation and they are in close contact not only with the people in China but the AFC and FIFA.’
Australia are scheduled to play matches in Wuhan against Taiwan on February 3, Thailand three days later and China on February 9.
Taiwan, where one case of the coronavirus has been detected, has called on people not to visit Wuhan unless they absolutely have to.
Quarantine workers spray disinfect at Incheon International Airport in South Korea. South Korea confirmed its first case on January 20 after a 35-year-old woman arriving at Seoul’s Incheon airport tested positive for the virus
An official uses an infrared thermometer on a traveler at a health screening checkpoint at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport. Wuhan is at the center of the outbreak
Chinese quarantine workers wearing protective suits and masks are posted at an entrance to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan
Yesterday, it was announced that:
- North Korea has temporarily banned all tourists from entering the country over fears the Chinese coronavirus will spread
- South Korean budget airline T’way Air has postponed the launch of its cheap flights to Wuhan, the Chinese city at the center of the outbreak
- A leading expert has said the coronavirus may have been lurking in animals for decades before adapting to infect humans
- A renowned Chinese doctor investigating the outbreak has caught the killer SARS-like infection himself
- Countries such as Russia, Kazakhstan and Malaysia have upped their screening methods to detect travelers with a fever in airports
- Residents in various Chinese cities are queuing to buy face masks as vendors sell the medical products for 10 times more than normal
- Public health officials in the UK have instructed NHS hospitals on how to deal with cases amid fears the virus will spread
- Stock markets in China and Hong Kong dipped amid fears tourists will refrain from travelling, despite people being urged not to panic
- Furious families in China have accused hospitals of not testing patients with tell-tale symptoms.
Professor Zhong Nanshan, leader of the National Health Commission’s expert team, revealed the virus is likely to be spread by saliva in a press conference today.
He told the meeting: ‘As of now, it is affirmative that the new strain of coronavirus can be passed between humans.
‘The virus is spread through respiratory system and distance of impact is not long, but it is possible that the virus was passed after being stuck to saliva.’
Professor Zhong said officials must ‘quarantine the patients and stop them from contacting others’. Antibiotics will not tackle the virus because the drugs only work on bacterial infections.
And he added that the outbreak will not spread like SARS, so long as patients are quarantined immediately and their contacts are traced.
A Chinese physician who was investigating the outbreak of a mysterious new virus in central China says he has himself been infected, it was revealed this evening.
Wang Guangfa, who heads the Department of Pulmonary Medicine at Beijing’s Peking University First Hospital, was part of a team of experts that earlier this month visited Wuhan.
‘I was diagnosed and my condition is fine,’ Wang told Kong’s Cable TV on Tuesday, thanking people for their concern. He is receiving treatment in hospital.
A leading expert yesterday told MailOnline the new Chinese coronavirus may have been lurking in animals for decades.
Sir Jeremy Farrar, a renowned specialist in infectious disease epidemics, said the virus isn’t new but has likely adapted to infect humans.
Reports also state face masks are flying off the shelves across China as the country’s citizens prepare themselves for the potential spread of the outbreak, which has already swept the nation.
Pictures and videos circulating on the country’s social media show residents in various cities queuing to stock up on the medical products.
On Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, web users reported to have seen huge lines of customers in and outside pharmacies in hope of buying the sought-after item.
Prices for face masks have surged, according a report from Beijing Evening News.
Some vendors on the country’s e-commerce site have increased the price of the N95 masks – which is made by US company 3M and particularly popular in China – from 99 yuan (£11) a box to nearly 1,000 yuan (£110) a box, the report said.
A topic page titled ‘the main force of buying face masks’ on Weibo has attracted around 570 million clicks as the Chinese netizens discuss the apparent nationwide buying spree.
Professor John Oxford, a virologist at Queen Mary College, yesterday admitted he was ‘quaking in my shoes’ over the potential spread of the virus that could happen over the Chinese New Year.
He told LBC: ‘None of us have faced a new virus faced with so many people in a community travelling around.
‘That’s what’s going to happen in China at the end of the week. Once they are close together in taxis or small rooms, then there may be a problem.’
And Professor Oxford added: ‘The only way to stop it is physical cleaning and social distance – keeping away from people.’
Locals have made more than four million trips by train, road and air since January 10 in the annual travel rush for the most important holiday in the country.
The transport peak season will last until February 18 and see three billion trips made within China, according to official statistics.
People in China have been urged not to panic and to try and enjoy the festive season.
A piece in Chinese newspaper the Global Times said on Sunday: ‘The entire Chinese society should be vigilant but should not be in panic.
‘We should make the upcoming Spring Festival happy and peaceful, and also pay close attention to every link where the pneumonia may increase transmission.’
Families of sicked loved who have died of mystery respiratory diseases in recent weeks believe the true number of cases and deaths is far higher than what China has admitted, The Guardian reported yesterday.
On the microblog Weibo, Wuhan residents have shared stories of family members who had shown symptoms of the virus, but not been tested for it at hospital.
One posted images of her mother’s diagnosis of viral pneumonia and described long queues of patients with similar symptoms late on Monday night, none of whom appeared to have been tested for coronavirus.
‘Could all these people suddenly have viral pneumonia?’ she said.
Australian officials yesterday announced a traveler had been placed in quarantine with symptoms of the virus after returning home from a trip to China.
The man is being kept at his home in Brisbane as he awaits test results for the virus. Earlier tests were inconclusive, Queensland health chiefs said.
The suspected case prompted Prime Minister Scott Morrison to warn Australians travelling to China to ‘exercise a high degree of caution’ in China’s Wuhan area.
The Philippines also announced that it was investigating its first potential case of the coronavirus.
A five-year-old child arrived in the country on January 12 from Wuhan and has since been hospitalized with flu symptoms.
While the child tested positive for a virus, authorities in Manila said they were not sure if it was the same one that has killed six people in China.